This particular topic rears its head about once a season in my mind – who are Aston Villa’s biggest local rivals, Birmingham City or West Bromwich Albion.
Both sides have a tendency to focus on singing about us in their games and that was ably demonstrated on Monday evening as West Brom fans could be audibly heard chanting about us as Brentford held them to a draw and we all know the same is true about Blues.
In fairness, a strong section of our own fanbase can’t get through 90 minutes without singing about the Alliance from Small Heath either – but unless we are playing the Baggies they never feature.
Chancing across these posts on social media got me thinking.
West Brom’s obsession singing about us instead of getting behind there team cost them tonight. First time I have really had a look at West Brom with them being on TV and I’m more confident we will beat them Friday night now UTV!!!! #avfc
— Robert Gibbons (@robgibb01) December 3, 2018
Isn't it cute how #wba fans think there's some sort of mutual rivalry between Villa and them? We never ever sing about West Brom, that's how irrelevant they are to us #avfc #westbrom
— Scott Wood (@Scottwood101) December 3, 2018
Why do West Brom fans sing about us constantly? I'm trying to think of a single song we sing about WBA when we aren't playing them and I'm right in saying we don't do we? #obsessed beyond belief #avfc #wba
— Scott Wood (@Scottwood101) December 3, 2018
It is weird that West Brom sing about villa every week but you only hear villa sing about them when we play them #AVFC #WBA #Obsessed
— Danny Salsbury (@DannySalsbury) December 3, 2018
Find it funny how desperate baggies fans are to make the West Brom vs Villa game a derby. Honestly don’t know any Villa fans who care about West Brom. Blues is our derby and West Brom is just another game #avfc
— Mathew Day (@mathew_day) December 3, 2018
There were plenty more and I’m sure it’s a generation thing. Some of those wiser than me (the old) over the years have assured me that the Boingers are our more established rivalry purely down to the fact that when you look at their list of achievements in the game, it’s not Aston Villa’s copied onto the Birmingham website.
We competed and Birmingham rarely did.
But speak to people of my age and younger (the younger being lucky sods), it’s Blues all the way and West Brom only feature when we play them but really with no greater emphasis than Wolves, Nottingham Forest et al. Coventry usually rank higher but again that seems to be based on their obsession with us rather than the other way round.
It’s been a good few years since I saw this particular topic outside of a forum, so I thought I’d open it up to our younger fans now to pipe up and give their thoughts – especially as with social media more prominent these days I’m guessing there will be more of a variety of responses.
It’s just one of those topics that leaves me scratching my chin as I can’t see how it’s not Blues, I was surrounded by them growing up but it is West Brom next so it’s relevant.